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Investors ready to block Arcelor share buyback

ARCELOR executives are braced for defeat by shareholders this week on a controversial £4.4 billion share buyback.

The scheme — part of the European steel group’s defence against a £17 billion hostile takeover bid by Lakshmi Mittal, the steel tycoon who is Britain’s richest man — will be put to a general meeting of shareholders on Wednesday.

Last night sources close to Arcelor said they accepted there was a strong possibility the plan would be voted down.

If only one-third of shareholders voting at the meeting opt to reject the plan, it will not go ahead.

“If you consider that in the past only about 35% of shareholders have voted at general meetings, that means a determined block of just 10% or 12% of shareholders could stop it,” said one Arcelor insider.

Such a block may already exist. Recently a group of shareholders representing nearly 30% of Arcelor’s shares wrote to the